The Between Times

Today I am grateful for the sunshine we were treated to for at least part of the day yesterday, for recovery connections that matter tremendously in my life, and for all who helped bring my breakfast of oatmeal and fruit to me.

Yesterday’s post, Thanking While Thinking, had me doing both in healthy proportion as I went for a run in the sun later in the morning. Life is so much about the the little moments and the between times. The time between meeting and falling in love. The time between becoming pregnant and giving birth. The time between a biopsy and hearing the results. The time between one breath and the next, one footfall and the next. The time between one season and the next or one leaf’s life span.

My mindfulness meditation practice helps me embrace the little moments, the times between an inhale and an exhale. Those little moments are actually large in a day. If I can slow down and notice the small things and actions going on around me and inside me, I pay more attention and listen better, regardless if I am listening to someone else or myself. Practice makes progress possible, so I keep practicing.

And I keep writing. One of my poems yesterday, as I continue on the poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Month, captured these thoughts and feelings:

The Between Times

Between the moon setting

and the sun rising,

I embraced the new day.

With loving compassion, I held

my own heart and each of you.

Between the start and finish

of my morning run,

I savored the mind-body

connection, and increases

in heart rate and endorphins.

Between strides, my thoughts

sometimes raced ahead.

A gently flowing river returned

the focus to footfalls, as new greens

peeked through the brown earth.

LV 4/19/22

Take some time in your own between times today.